Efficient generation of identity provider integrations

ABSTRACT

An authentication system facilitates efficient generation of authentication integrations with third-party identity providers for client systems. The authentication system provides one or more interfaces configured to receive requests to make authentication integrations available for a third-party identity provider. The requests to make authentication integrations available include integration information for the relevant identity provider. Based on the request to make authentication integrations available, the authentication system generates an identity provider profile for the identity provider that can be used to generate authentication integrations with the identity provider for one or more client systems. Once the identity provider profile is generated, the authentication system uses the identity provider profile to generate authentication integrations for one or more client systems that request authentication through the third-party identity provider. In doing so, the authentication system provides an efficient process for providing authentication integrations with identity providers requested by client systems.

FIELD OF ART

The present invention generally relates to the field of softwareapplications, and more specifically, to generation of authenticationintegrations for a new identity provider.

BACKGROUND

Authentication systems provide authentication services for clientsystems, such as enterprise network environments, e.g., so that users ofthe client systems can be safely granted access to system resources.Authentication systems may interface with other external authenticationsystems, such as third-party identity providers (e.g., Facebook, Google,Salesforce, etc.), in order to enable users of client systems toauthenticate through the external authentication systems that thoseusers may already use. For instance, an authentication system maymaintain an authentication integration with a third-party identityprovider for a client system that enables users of the client system toauthenticate through the third-party identity provider using theauthentication integration.

However, development of authentication integrations for each third-partyidentity provider and client system can be an inefficient andtime-consuming process. For example, each new authentication integrationmay require a developer associated with the authentication system towrite unique software for each authentication integration. Theinefficient and time-consuming nature of this process leads to slowonboarding of new identity providers for the authentication system andrepetitive software development. As such, improved techniques forproviding authentication integrations for new third-party claimsproviders to client systems are needed.

SUMMARY

An authentication system facilitates efficient generation ofauthentication integrations with third-party identity providers forclient systems. The authentication system enables client systems toauthenticate through the authentication system using authenticationintegrations with one or more third-party identity providers (e.g.,Facebook, Google, Salesforce, etc.) which are associated with anidentity provider profile. The authentication system provides one ormore interfaces configured to receive requests to make authenticationintegrations available for a third-party identity provider by generatingan identity provider profile for the third-party identity provider. Therequests to make authentication integrations available includeintegration information for the relevant identity provider. Based on therequest to make authentication integrations available, theauthentication system generates an identity provider profile theidentity provider (e.g., data, software modules, etc.) that can be usedto generate authentication integrations with the identity provider forone or more client systems. Once the identity provider profile isgenerated, the authentication system uses the identity provider profileto generate authentication integrations for one or more client systemsthat request authentication through the third-party identity provider.In doing so, the authentication system provides an efficient process forproviding authentication integrations with identity providers requestedby client systems.

In some embodiments, the authentication system receives a request toprovide authentication via the third-party identity provider throughauthentication integrations with the third-party identity provider.Using identity provider integration information for the identityprovider, the authentication system generates an identity providerprofile for the third-party identity provider. At some time aftergenerating the identity provider profile, the authentication systemreceives a request to generate an authentication integration with thethird-party identity provider for the authentication client system.Based on the request to generate the authentication integration, theauthentication system generates the authentication integration using theidentity provider profile, where the authentication integration isconfigured to enable the authentication system to perform authenticationfor access requests provided by users of the client system using thethird-party identity provider.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computing environment forgenerating new authentication integrations for identity providers,according to one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of anauthentication system, according to one embodiment

FIG. 3 illustrates an identity provider profile user interface,according to one embodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates an authentication integration user interface,according to one embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram illustrating interactions between anauthentication system, a third-party identity provider, anauthentication client system, and a client device, according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process for generating anauthentication integration with a third-party identity provider for aclient system, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a high-level block diagram illustrating physical components ofa computer used as part or all of the server, organization, clientdevice of a user, or system providing the third-party application,according to one embodiment.

The figures depict embodiments of the present invention for purposes ofillustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize fromthe following description that alternative embodiments of the structuresand methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing fromthe principles of the invention described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a computingenvironment 100 for generating new authentication integrations foridentity providers. In the embodiment shown, the computing environment100 includes an authentication system 110, a third-party identityprovider 120, a authentication client system 130, a client device 140,and a network 150. In some embodiments, a user of the client device 140is a member of an organization (e.g., an employee of a corporation)associated with the authentication client system 130 that contracts withthe authentication system 110 to have the authentication system handleauthentication on behalf of the members of the organization to accessservices of the authentication client system 130, which can includeinternal services of the organization (e.g., an enterprise network orsuite of applications) or third-party services used by the organization.Example third-party services include SALESFORCE, MICROSOFT OFFICE 365,SLACK, DOCUSIGN, ZOOM, or the like. In different embodiments, thecomputing environment 100 and its components may include different oradditional elements than those illustrated in FIGS. 1-2. Furthermore,the functionality may be distributed among the elements in a differentmanner than described. The components of FIG. 1 are now described inmore detail.

The authentication system 110 authenticates client devices (e.g., theclient device 140) for access to services of the authentication clientsystem 130. For instance, the authentication system 110 may be anauthentication platform providing various authentication services to theauthentication client system 130, such as single sign-on capabilities,multi-factor authentication (MFA), identity proofing, applicationprogramming interface access management, or other authenticationservices. In embodiments, the authentication system 110 enables theauthentication client system 130 to configure authentication via theauthentication system 110 for the authentication client system 130. Theauthentication system 110 enables the authentication client system 130to use one or more third-party identity providers with existing identityprovider profiles managed by the authentication system 110 forgenerating an authentication integration between the authenticationclient system 130 and the selected identity provider. As used herein, an“Identity provider profile” for a third-party identity provider is a setof configurable data (i.e., “identity provider integration information”)corresponding to a third-party identity provider that can be used by theauthentication system 110 to generate an authentication integration withthe third-party identity provider for individual client systems. Afterthe authentication system 110 generates an authentication integrationwith a third-party identity provider for a client authentication system,the authentication system 110 can provide authentication via thethird-party identity provider for requests for services received fromuser client devices associated with the authentication client system(e.g., the client device 140).

As used herein, “identity provider integration information” is datausable for generating an authentication integration with the relevantthird-party identity provider. For instance, the identity providerintegration information for an identity provider can includecharacteristics (e.g., a logo, communication protocol, or URL), features(e.g., authentication request parameters or available authenticationalgorithms), or authentication response format (e.g., identity claimtype) of the third-party identity provider. Example identity providerintegration information is described in greater detail below withreference to the third-party identity provider 120. As used herein, an“authentication integration” is a particular configuration of data orsoftware processes/routines (e.g., identity provider integrationinformation) that enables authentication for users of an individualauthentication client system (e.g., the authentication client system130) by the authentication system 110 using a relevant third-partyidentity provider. For example, an authentication integration mayspecify a set of features among the available features of a third-partyidentity provider to use for authentication (e.g., a particularauthentication algorithm), which authentication response format of thethird-party identity provider to use, or how the authentication responsefrom the third-party identity provider should be processed by theauthentication system 110. In some cases, an authentication integrationmay enable the authentication system 110 to authenticate users of theauthentication client system 130 within the same domain (e.g., as a“first-party connection”).

In embodiments, the authentication system 110 uses a shared set ofsoftware modules (e.g., a shared software framework) for multipleauthentication integrations (e.g., authentication integrationsassociated with multiple client systems and third-party identityproviders) by applying information associated with the authenticationintegrations to the set of shared software modules, thus avoidingredundant software development. Authentication integrations usedifferent authentication communication protocols depending on theparticular third-party identity provider, such as Security AssertionMarkup Language (SAML), OAuth, OpenID Connect, or any other appropriatesecurity communication protocols.

The authentication system 110 receives requests (e.g., from clientsystems) to make authentication integrations available to client systemsfor new third-party identity providers (i.e., third-party identityproviders for which the authentication system 110 does not currentlyprovide authentication integrations). The requests to makeauthentication integrations available include identity providerintegration information for generating an identity provider profile forthe relevant third-party identity provider. In response, theauthentication system 110 generates an identity provider profile for thenew third-party identity provider using the identity providerintegration information. Once generated, the authentication system 110can use the identity provider profile for a third-party identityprovider 120 to generate authentication integrations with thethird-party identity provider for individual client systems (e.g., theauthentication client system 130). For instance, the authenticationclient system 130 can interact with the authentication system 110 toconfigure authentication of users of the authentication client system130 to use an authentication integration with the third-party identityprovider 120 generated using an identity provider profile of thethird-party identity provider 120. Generating identity provider profilesfor new third-party identity providers and using them to generateauthentication integrations are described in greater detail below withreference to FIGS. 2-5.

The third-party identity provider 120 is a third-party system thatcreates and maintains identity information for users of theauthentication client system 130. For instance, the third-party identityprovider 120 can be a software application or service with anestablished user-base, such as Facebook™, Google™, or Salesforce™. Inembodiments, the third-party identity provider 120 communicates with theauthentication system 110 via an authentication integration in order toauthenticate users of the authentication client system 130 (e.g., a userof the client device 140). As an example, a user of the authenticationclient system 130 that has provided identity information to thethird-party identity provider 120 may request access to services of theauthentication client system 130 (e.g., to log-in) through thethird-party identity provider 120. In this case, the authenticationsystem 110 may request authentication of the user by the third-partyidentity provider 120 through an authentication integration with thethird-party identity provider 120 for the authentication client system130 based on information in the access request. The third-party identityprovider 120 processes the information in the access request to verifythe identity of the user and provides an authentication response to theauthentication system 110 which includes results of the verification(e.g., whether or not the user was successfully authenticated).

The third-party identity provider 120 is associated with identityprovider integration information that can be used by the authenticationsystem 110 to generate an authentication integration with thethird-party identity provider 120. As described above with reference tothe authentication system 110, identity provider integration informationfor the third-party identity provider 120 can include features,characteristics, authentication response formats, or other relevantinformation for generating integrations with the third-party identityprovide 120. For example, the identity provider integration informationmay include a name of the third-party identity provider 120, a type ofnetwork or communication protocol used by the third-party identityprovider 120, one or more available authentication algorithms orprocesses of the third-party identity provider 120, metadata for thetype of network protocol used by the third-party identity provider 120,metadata indicating how to process authentication responses receivedfrom the third-party identity provider 120, or information describinguser interface elements for display on a user device (e.g., the clientdevice 140) for receiving access requests for authentication by thethird-party identity provider 120. Identity provider integrationinformation for the third-party identity provider 120 can be used by theauthentication system 110 to generate an identity provider profile forthe third-party identity provider 120. Furthermore, the identityprovider integration information for the third-party identity provider120 can be provided through the identity provider profile interface(e.g., submitted by an administrator of the identity provider 120 or theauthentication client system 130).

The authentication client system 130 is a client of the authenticationsystem 110 that uses the authentication system 110 to authenticate usersof the authentication client system 130. The authentication clientsystem 130 provides services to users (e.g., via the client device 140)that are successfully authenticated by the authentication system 110. Asdescribed above with reference to the system environment 100, in someembodiments the authentication client system 130 provides anauthenticated user with access to internal services of an organizationof which the user is a member and which owns controls client system. Inthe same or different embodiments, the authentication client system 130provides an authenticated user with access to services of one or morethird-party service providers. The client device 140 communicates withthe authentication system 110 to authenticate users for access toservices. In embodiments, the authentication client system 130 receivesauthentication responses from the authentication system 110 includinginformation indicating whether or not a user was successfullyauthenticated. Based on the received authentication responses, theauthentication client system 130 determines whether or not to provideservices to the user. In some embodiments, the authentication system 110is a component of the authentication client system 130.

The client device 140 is a computing device operated by a userassociated with the authentication client system 130 (e.g., an employeeof an organization that runs the authentication client system 130). Theclient device 140 can be various computing devices, such as a desktopcomputer, a laptop computer, a mobile device (e.g., a mobile phone, atablet, etc.), or any other suitable computing device. In embodiments,the client device 140 requests authentication by the authenticationsystem 110 for access to services of the authentication client system130 (i.e., access requests), such as services of third-party serviceproviders associated with the authentication client system 130. Forexample, a user associated with the client device 140 may create aprofile at the authentication system 110 by providing login credentials(e.g., a username and password), other demographic information, ordevice signals for the client device 140. In various embodiments, theclient device 140 may access services of the authentication clientsystem 130 via a mobile application, a web application, a browser (e.g.,a web page), or any other client-side interface of the authenticationclient system 130 or the authentication system 110. Additionally, oralternatively, the client device 140 can submit requests to theauthentication system 110 to make authentication integrations with newthird-party identity providers 120 available. The client device 140 mayfurther communicate with the authentication system 110 via softwareintegrated with a software development kit (SDK) of the authenticationclient system 130. In this case, the client device 140 may provideaccess requests to the authentication client system 130 or theauthentication system 110 using software tools provided by the SDK. TheSDK may be implemented using various programming languages (e.g., Java,C++, Python, etc.).

The network 150 connects the authentication system 110, the third-partyidentity provider 120, the authentication client system 130, and theclient device 140. The network 150 may be any suitable communicationsnetwork for data transmission. In an embodiment such as that illustratedin FIG. 1, the network 150 uses standard communications technologies orprotocols and can include the internet. In another embodiment, theentities use custom or dedicated data communications technologies.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of anauthentication system 110. In the embodiment shown, the authenticationsystem 110 includes an authentication module 210 that authenticatesusers of the authentication client system 130, an identity providerprofile module 220 that manages identity provider profiles forthird-party identity providers, an authentication integration module 230that generates authentication integrations with identity providers usingrespective identity provider profiles, an identity provider profilestore 240 that stores identity provider profiles, and an authenticationintegration store 250 that stores information related to authenticationintegrations with third-party identity provider. The components of FIG.2 are now described in more detail.

The authentication module 210 authenticates users for access to servicesof the authentication client system 130. In embodiments, theauthentication module 210 receives an access request from client devicesassociated with a user of the authentication client system 130 (e.g.,the client device 140) and uses information in the access request toauthenticate the user. If an access request is intended forauthentication by a third-party identity provider (e.g., the third-partyidentity provider 120) corresponding to an existing authenticationintegration for the authentication client system 130 (e.g., stored inthe authentication integration store 250), the authentication module 210communicates with the third-party identity provider using the existingauthentication integration in order to authenticate the user. Forinstance, the authentication module 210 may forward information in theaccess request to the third-party identity provider 120 using theauthentication integration and receive an authentication response fromthe third-party identity provider 120 indicating whether the user was orwas not successfully authenticated. The authentication module 210 mayfurther use the authentication integration in order to format theinformation in the access request provided to the third-party identityprovider 120 or to process the authentication response received from thethird-party identity provider 120.

The identity provider profile module 220 manages identity providerprofiles for third-party identity providers (e.g., the third-partyidentity provider 120). In embodiments, the identity provider profilemodule 220 provides an identity provider profile interface to clientsystems (e.g., the authentication client system 130), which may be auser interface, an application programming interface (API), or any othersuitable communication interface. Through the identity provider profileinterface, identity provider profile module 220 receives requests tomake authentication integrations available to client systems for newthird-party identity providers (i.e., “identity provider requests”). Forinstance, an administrator of the authentication client system 130 mayaccess the identity provider profile interface and submit an identityprovider request to the identity provider profile module 220. Inparticular, an identity provider request includes identity providerintegration information for the relevant identity provider that can beused by the authentication system 110 to generate an authenticationintegration with the identity provider for a client system. Anembodiment of an identity provider profile interface is discussed ingreater detail below with reference to FIG. 3. The identity providerprofile module 220 further processes identity provider requests todetermine whether to make authentication integrations available for therelevant identity provider. For example, the identity provider profilemodule 220 may provide the identity provider request to an administratorof the authentication system 110 for review. If the identity providerrequest is approved, the identity provider profile module 220 generatesan identity provider profile using the identity provider integrationinformation for the third-party identity provider included in therequest and stores the identity provider profile in the identityprovider profile store 240.

The authentication integration module 230 generates authenticationintegrations using identity provider profiles for client systems (e.g.,the authentication client system 130). In embodiments, theauthentication integration module 230 provides an authenticationintegration interface to client systems, which may be a user interface,an API, or any other suitable communication interface. Through theauthentication integration interface, the authentication integrationmodule 230 receives requests to generate an authentication integrationwith a third-party identity provider for a client system (i.e.,authentication integration requests”), where the third-party identityprovider is associated with an existing identity provider profile (e.g.,stored in the identity provider profile store 240). The authenticationintegration requests describe a configuration of information included inthe identity provider profile of the third-party identity provider, suchas a selection of one or more communications protocol, authenticationalgorithms, or authentication response formats associated with thethird-party identity provider. The authentication integration module 230may provide the authentication integration interface as a user interfacedisplaying a list of available third-party identity providers. In thiscase, the user interface may be configured to receive user inputindicating a selection of one of the available third-party identityproviders in order to submit an authentication integration request.Responsive to receiving an authentication integration request for aselected third-party identity provider for a client system, theauthentication integration module 230 generates the authenticationintegration using an identity provider profile for the third-partyidentity provider (e.g. stored in the identity provider profile store240). After an authentication integration for a client system isgenerated by the authentication integration module 230, theauthentication system 110 provides authentication for users of theclient system using the generated authentication integration (e.g., bythe authentication module 210).

As described above with reference to the authentication system 110,authentication integrations generated by the authentication integrationmodule 220 for multiple combinations of client systems and third-partyidentity providers use a shared set of software modules (e.g., softwareclasses or routines). As such, a component of the authentication system110 (e.g., the authentication module 210) can apply information for aspecific authentication integration (e.g., identity provider integrationinformation) to the shared set of software modules or routines withoutgenerating additional software or data. For example, the authenticationmodule 210 may retrieve information associated with an authenticationintegration between the authentication client system 130 and thethird-party identity provider 120 (e.g., from the authenticationintegration store 250) after receiving an access request associated witha user of the authentication client system 130 and intended forauthentication by the third-party identity provider 120. Theauthentication module 210 may then apply the retrieved information tothe set of shared software modules in order to request authentication bythe third-party identity provider 120 or process an authenticationresponse from the third-party identity provider 120.

In some embodiments, the authentication integration module 230 receivesor otherwise obtains information to customize an authenticationintegration for a client system (i.e., client integration information),such as in included in the request to generate the authenticationintegration. For example, the authentication integration module 230 mayreceive client integration information for the authentication clientsystem 130 through the authentication integration interface. The clientintegration information can include various custom authenticationintegration parameters for an authentication client system, such as asecret key of the authentication client system 130 to use forcommunications with the third-party identity provider, a just-in-time(JIT) access policy for the client system, a username template for usersof the client system attempting to authenticate using the authenticationintegration, or any other information used to generate an authenticationintegration for the client system. In such embodiments, theauthentication integration module 230 uses client integrationinformation to generate an authentication integration with the relevantidentity provider for the client system. An embodiment of anauthentication integration interface is discussed in greater detailbelow with reference to FIG. 4.

Exemplary User Interfaces

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of an identity provider profile userinterface 300. The user interface 300 is provided for display by theauthentication system 110 (e.g., by the identity provider profile module220) to a client device associated the authentication client system 130(e.g., a computing device of an administrator of the authenticationclient system 130) for receiving requests to generate identity providerprofiles. In the embodiment shown, the user interface 300 includes aseries of fields configured to receive identity provider integrationinformation for a new third-party identity provider through user input.In particular, the user interface 300 includes a set of non-customizablefields (e.g., a “name” and “Logo URL” field) and a set of customizablefields (e.g., the “authorize URL” and “Token Endpoint URL” fields)configured to receive appropriate data values. As depicted, thenon-customizable fields and the customizable fields are populated withvalues describing identity provider integration information for athird-party identity provider (e.g., the third-party identity provider120), which are provided for the purposes of illustration only and caninclude other appropriate values for any third-party identity provider.The non-customizable fields are a set of generic fields corresponding touniversal information for third-party identity providers (e.g., the nameof an identity provider). In contrast, the customizable fields arefields that can be arbitrarily associated with additional parameters(e.g., using the “+” button depicted in FIG. 3). As depicted, thecustomizable fields include a primary field (e.g., the “Authorize URL”field) corresponding to a generic identity provider parameter and one ormore configurable parameters associated with the primary field (e.g.,the “scope” field for the “Authorize URL” field) corresponding toparameters that have varying properties and parameters between differentidentity providers. The customizable fields include an interface elementconfigured to add any number of parameter fields for each configurablefield based on the characteristics of the relevant identity provider(i.e., the “+” button).

At the bottom of the user interface 300 are non-customizable fieldsrepresenting formats of values included in an authentication responsefrom the relevant third-party identity provider (e.g., the identityclaims provided by the third-party identity provider). In particular, asdepicted in FIG. 3 the values for the “login,” “email” and “user name”fields indicate that the third-party identity provider providescorresponding values in an authentication response using the respectiveformats “appuser.login,” “appuser.email,” and “appuser.userName” (e.g.,using a format with the form [user identifier].[identity claim value]).The particular non-cusomizable and customizable fields depicted in FIG.3 are provided for the purposes of illustration only, and the userinterface 300 may include additional or different fields in the same ordifferent embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of an authentication integration userinterface 400. Similar to the user interface 300, the user interface 400is provided for display by the authentication system 110 (e.g., by theauthentication integration module 230) to a client device associatedwith the authentication client system 130 (e.g., a computing device ofan administrator of the authentication client system 130). For instance,an administrator of the client system may interact with one or more userinterfaces provided for display by the authentication system 110 toselect a third-party identity provider with an existing identityprovider profile (e.g., stored in the identity provider profile store240). As an example, the authentication system 110 may provide a userinterface displaying a selectable list of third-party identity providerswith existing identity provider profiles managed by the authenticationsystem 110.

In the embodiment shown, the user interface 400 includes a series offields configured to receive client integration information for a clientsystem (e.g., the authentication client system 130) usable by theauthentication system 110 to generate an authentication integration witha third-party identity provider (e.g., the third-party identity provider120) for the client system. The authentication system 110 may adjust theparticular fields included in the user interface 400 to conform to thethird-party identity provider associated with the user interface 400.For example, if the identity provider profile for the third-partyidentity provider indicates that the third-party identity provider usesOpenID Connect (OIDC) for a communication protocol, the authenticationsystem 110 includes the “Client ID” and “Client Secret” fields in theuser interface 400 which are requisite parameters for OIDC, as is thecase in FIG. 4. The user interface 400 may include other fields forreceiving other types of client integration information depending on theparticular third-party identity provider selected for generating anintegration.

As depicted in FIG. 4, the fields of the user interface 400 arepopulated with values associated with the authentication client system130, which are provided for the purposes of illustration only and caninclude appropriate values for any authentication client system. Thefields of the user interface 400 include fields for configuring how theintegration is provided to users of the client authentication system130. In particular, the “Application Label” field and “ApplicationVisibility” toggle options define a name for an application representingthe integration (e.g., a desktop or mobile application) and visibilityof a virtual icon for the application, respectively. Some or all of thefields of the user interface 400 may be optional (e.g., the “defaultgroups” or “AutoLink Group Restriction” fields). In this case, if arequest to generate an authentication integration is received that doesnot include values for some or all of the client integration informationfields, the authentication system 110 may automatically retrieve valuesor select default values to generate the authentication integration forthe client system. The user interface 400 further includes fields forconfiguring how the third-party identity provider authenticates anaccess request associated with the authentication client system 130. Forinstance, the “User Match Type” field indicates what value should beused to confirm an identity of a user, such as the username in the caseof FIG. 4.

Additionally, the user interface 400 includes fields for specifying howthe integration should handle authentication for users of theauthentication client system 130 associated with user accounts at thethird-party identity provider 120 (i.e., identity provider accounts) anduser accounts at the authentication system 110 (i.e., authenticationaccounts). These various types of users are referred to as “groups” inFIG. 4 (e.g., by the “Default Groups” and “AutoLink Group Restriction”fields). In particular, the “just-in-time (JIT) policy” field can beused to configure a JIT policy indicating whether or not the identityprovider account should be used to update a corresponding authenticationaccount. For instance, the “automatic” option selected in FIG. 4indicates that the authentication system 110 should use the identityprovider account for ground truth information to update a correspondingauthentication account. Similarly, the “Account Link Policy” field canbe used to configure whether the authentication system 110 links theauthentication account and the identity provider account for a givenuser of the authentication client system 130. For example, the AccountLink Policy field can be configured to indicate whether theauthentication system 110 creates new authentication accounts based onan authentication response from the identity provider 120 (e.g., the“automatic” option selected in FIG. 4) or processes the authenticationresponse without creating a new authentication account. Furthermore, the“Default Groups” field specifies that “customer” users of theauthentication client system 130 should be able to use the integrationfor authenticating access requests. Similarly, the “AutoLink GroupRestriction” field specifies types of users to which an account linkpolicy (e.g., as specified in the Account Link Policy” field) should notbe applied by the authentication system 110. Relatedly, the “User MatchType” field indicates what value the authentication system 110 shouldcompare between the authentication account and the identity provideraccount to determine whether the authentication account and the identityprovider account should be linked (e.g., a username in the case of FIG.4). Further, the “Username Template” field receives an expressiondescribing how a value in the authentication response representing ausername of a user in an identity provider account is converted tousername for a linked authentication account by the authenticationsystem 110.

Processes for Generating Authentication Integrations

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram illustrating an embodiment of interactionsbetween the authentication system 110, the third-party identity provider120, the authentication client system 130, and the client device 140.

The sequence of interactions depicted in FIG. 5 begins with theauthentication client system 130 providing 510 an identity providerrequest for the third-party identity provider 120 to the authenticationsystem 110 that includes identity provider integration information forthe third-party identity provider 120. For example, an administrator ofthe authentication client system 130 may provide the identity providerrequest via an identity provider profile interface provided by theidentity provider profile module 220. Using the identity providerintegration information, the authentication system 110 generates 520 andidentity provider profile for the third-party identity provider 120.After generating the identity provider profile, the authenticationsystem 110 provides 530 information describing the generated identityprovider profile 530 to the client system 130, such as in a list ofidentity provider profiles available for generating authenticationintegrations. Using the information, the authentication client system130 provides 540 an authentication integration request for thethird-party identity provider 120. For example, an administrator of theauthentication client system 130 may provide an authenticationintegration request via an authentication integration interface providedby the authentication integration module 230. Based on theauthentication integration request, the authentication system 110generates an authentication integration with the third-party identityprovider 120 for the authentication client system 130.

At some time after the authentication system 110 generates theauthentication integration, the client device 140 provides 560 an accessrequest to the authentication system 110. For example, a user of theclient device 140 may provide an access request to the authenticationmodule 210 for accessing services of the authentication client system130 on the client device 140. The access request may be submitted by theuser through an interface provided for display on the client device 140by the authentication system 110 that is associated with the third-partyidentity provider 120, such as an interface described in the identityprovider profile. Based on the access request, the authentication systemrequests 570 authentication for the access request by the third-partyidentity provider 130 using the authentication integration. For example,the authentication module 210 may apply information associated with theauthentication integration (e.g., identity provider integrationinformation or client integration information) to a set of sharedsoftware modules in order to request authentication for the accessrequest by the third-party identity provider 120. After performingauthentication for the access request, the third-party identity provider120 provides 580 an authentication response to the authentication system110. Based on the authentication response, the authentication system 110grants or denies the access request for the client device 140. Forinstance, the authentication system 110 may provide the user access toservices of the authentication client system 130 depending on whether ornot the user was successfully authenticated.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process 600 for generating anauthentication integration with the third-party identity provider 120for the authentication client system 130, according to one embodiment.In the embodiment shown, the steps of FIG. 6 are illustrated from theperspective of authentication system 110 performing the process 600.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the process 600 begins withauthentication system 110 receiving 610 a request to provideauthentication via the third-party identity provider 120 throughauthentication integrations with the third-party identity provider 120.In particular, the request includes identity provider integrationinformation for the third-party identity provider 120 (e.g., metadata orother information describing characteristics or properties of thethird-party identity provider 120). As an example, the identity providerprofile module 220 may receive an identity provider request submitted byan administrator of the authentication client system 130 for thethird-party identity provider 120. Using identity provider integrationinformation for the identity provider, the authentication system 110generates 620 an identity provider profile for the third-party identityprovider 120. For instance, the identity provider profile module 220 mayprovide the request to an administrator of the authentication system 110for review and approval or denial. In this case, the identity providerprofile module 220 may generate an identity provider profile for thethird-party identity provider 120 and store the identity providerprofile in the identity provider profile store 240 if the request isapproved. At some time after generating the identity provider profile,the authentication system 110 receives 630 a request to generate anauthentication integration with the third-party identity provider 120for the authentication client system 130. For example, an administratorof the authentication client system 130 may submit a request to generatethe authentication integration via an authentication integrationinterface provided by the authentication integration module 230. Basedon the request to generate the authentication integration, theauthentication system 110 generates 640 the authentication integrationusing the identity provider profile, where the authenticationintegration is configured to enable the authentication system to performauthentication for access requests provided by users of the clientsystem using the third-party identity provider. For example, theauthentication integration module 230 may generate the authenticationintegration using an identity provider profile in the identity providerprofile store 240.

As such, through the sequence of interactions depicted in FIG. 5, theprocess 600, or other processes described herein, the authenticationsystem 110 provides an efficient process for generating newauthentication integrations with third-party identity providers forclient systems. In particular, the authentication system 110 generatesauthentication integrations differently than human administrators ordevelopers by eliminating redundant and inefficient tasks that increasethe complexity and duration of integration development and are mandatedby conventional systems. For instance, the authentication system 110provides interfaces for efficiently receiving integration informationfor third-party identity providers or client systems, which may includecustom parameters for an authentication integration using the receivedinformation. Advantageously, any user of the authentication system 110can provide the integration information for a third-party identityprovider, as opposed to dedicated integration developers oradministrators, as required by conventional systems. After generating anauthentication integration using this identity provider integrationinformation, the authentication system 110 can apply the information toa set of shared software modules in order to perform authentication ofrelevant access requests. In contrast, conventional systems wouldrequire manual research of the identity provider integration informationfor the third-party identity provider 120 and would further requiresoftware developers to develop unique software for an authenticationintegration with the third-party identity provider 120 for theauthentication client system 130. In doing so, conventional systemsprovide a lengthy, complicated, and resource intensive processes forcreating authentication integrations for new third-party identityproviders.

In other embodiments than those shown in FIG. 5 or FIG. 6, some or allof the steps may be performed by other entities or components. Inaddition, some embodiments may perform the steps in parallel, performthe steps in different orders, or perform different steps.

Exemplary Computer Architecture

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating physical components of a computer700 used as part or all of the authentication system 110, thethird-party identity provider 120, the authentication client system 130,or the client device 140 from FIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment.Illustrated are at least one processor 702 coupled to a chipset 704.Also coupled to the chipset 704 are a memory 706, a storage device 708,a graphics adapter 712, and a network adapter 716. A display 718 iscoupled to the graphics adapter 712. In one embodiment, thefunctionality of the chipset 604 is provided by a memory controller hub720 and an I/O controller hub 722. In another embodiment, the memory 706is coupled directly to the processor 702 instead of the chipset 704.

The storage device 708 is any non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium, such as a hard drive, compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM),DVD, or a solid-state memory device. The memory 706 holds instructionsand data used by the processor 702. The graphics adapter 712 displaysimages and other information on the display 718. The network adapter 716couples the computer 700 to a local or wide area network.

As is known in the art, a computer 700 can have different and/or othercomponents than those shown in FIG. 6. In addition, the computer 700 canlack certain illustrated components. In one embodiment, a computer 700,such as a host or smartphone, may lack a graphics adapter 712, and/ordisplay 718, as well as a keyboard 710 or external pointing device 614.Moreover, the storage device 708 can be local and/or remote from thecomputer 700 (such as embodied within a storage area network (SAN)).

As is known in the art, the computer 700 is adapted to execute computerprogram modules for providing functionality described herein. As usedherein, the term “module” refers to computer program logic utilized toprovide the specified functionality. Thus, a module can be implementedin hardware, firmware, and/or software. In one embodiment, programmodules are stored on the storage device 708, loaded into the memory706, and executed by the processor 702.

Other Considerations

The present invention has been described in particular detail withrespect to one possible embodiment. Those of skill in the art willappreciate that the invention may be practiced in other embodiments.First, the particular naming of the components and variables,capitalization of terms, the attributes, data structures, or any otherprogramming or structural aspect is not mandatory or significant, andthe mechanisms that implement the invention or its features may havedifferent names, formats, or protocols. Also, the particular division offunctionality between the various system components described herein ismerely for purposes of example, and is not mandatory; functionsperformed by a single system component may instead be performed bymultiple components, and functions performed by multiple components mayinstead performed by a single component.

Some portions of the above description present the features of thepresent invention in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations ofoperations on information. These algorithmic descriptions andrepresentations are the means used by those skilled in the dataprocessing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their workto others skilled in the art. These operations, while describedfunctionally or logically, are understood to be implemented by computerprograms. Furthermore, it has also proven convenient at times, to referto these arrangements of operations as modules or by functional names,without loss of generality.

Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the abovediscussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description,discussions utilizing terms such as “determining” or “displaying” or thelike, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similarelectronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms datarepresented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computersystem memories or registers or other such information storage,transmission or display devices.

Certain aspects of the present invention include process steps andinstructions described herein in the form of an algorithm. It should benoted that the process steps and instructions of the present inventioncould be embodied in software, firmware or hardware, and when embodiedin software, could be downloaded to reside on and be operated fromdifferent platforms used by real time network operating systems.

The present invention also relates to an apparatus for performing theoperations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for therequired purposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose computerselectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored on acomputer readable medium that can be accessed by the computer. Such acomputer program may be stored in a non-transitory computer readablestorage medium, such as, but is not limited to, any type of diskincluding floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, magnetic-optical disks,read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs,EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), or any type of computer-readable storage mediumsuitable for storing electronic instructions, and each coupled to acomputer system bus. Furthermore, the computers referred to in thespecification may include a single processor or may be architecturesemploying multiple processor designs for increased computing capability.

The algorithms and operations presented herein are not inherentlyrelated to any particular computer or other apparatus. Variousgeneral-purpose systems may also be used with programs in accordancewith the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient to construct morespecialized apparatus to perform the required method steps. The requiredstructure for a variety of these systems will be apparent to those ofskill in the art, along with equivalent variations. In addition, thepresent invention is not described with reference to any particularprogramming language. It is appreciated that a variety of programminglanguages may be used to implement the teachings of the presentinvention as described herein, and any references to specific languagesare provided for invention of enablement and best mode of the presentinvention.

The present invention is well suited to a wide variety of computernetwork systems over numerous topologies. Within this field, theconfiguration and management of large networks comprise storage devicesand computers that are communicatively coupled to dissimilar computersand storage devices over a network, such as the Internet.

As used herein, any reference to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular element, feature, structure, or characteristicdescribed in connection with the embodiment is included in at least oneembodiment. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in variousplaces in the specification are not necessarily all referring to thesame embodiment. Similarly, use of “a” or “an” preceding an element orcomponent is done merely for convenience. This description should beunderstood to mean that one or more of the element or component ispresent unless it is obvious that it is meant otherwise.

Where values are described as “approximate” or “substantially” (or theirderivatives), such values should be construed as accurate +/−10% unlessanother meaning is apparent from the context. From example,“approximately ten” should be understood to mean “in a range from nineto eleven.”

As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,”“including,” “has,” “having” or any other variation thereof, areintended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process,method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is notnecessarily limited to only those elements but may include otherelements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method,article, or apparatus. Further, unless expressly stated to the contrary,“or” refers to an inclusive or and not to an exclusive or. For example,a condition A or B is satisfied by any one of the following: A is true(or present) and B is false (or not present), A is false (or notpresent) and B is true (or present), and both A and B are true (orpresent).

Finally, it should be noted that the language used in the specificationhas been principally selected for readability and instructionalpurposes, and may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribethe inventive subject matter. Accordingly, the disclosure of the presentinvention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scopeof the invention, which is set forth in the claims.

We claim:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, by anauthentication system through input to an identity provider profileinterface, a request to provide authentication via a third-partyidentity provider through authentication integrations, the request toprovide authentication including identity provider integrationinformation for the third-party identity provider; generating, by theauthentication system, an identity provider profile for the third-partyidentity provider using the identity provider integration information;receiving, through input to an authentication integration interface, arequest to generate an authentication integration with the third-partyidentity provider for a client system of the authentication system; andgenerating the authentication integration using the identity providerprofile and client integration information for the client system, theauthentication integration configured to enable authentication of usersof the client system by the authentication system using the third-partyidentity provider.
 2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving, by the authentication system, anauthentication request for a user of the client system, the userassociated with authentication information of the identity provider;providing, by the authentication system, the authentication request tothe identity provider using the authentication integration; andresponsive to receiving an authentication response from the identityprovider based on the authentication request, processing, by theauthentication system, the authentication response using theauthentication integration to determine whether or not the user wassuccessfully authenticated.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim2, wherein providing the authentication request to the identity providercomprises: applying the identity provider integration information andthe client integration information to a set of shared software modules,the set of shared software modules configured to facilitate a pluralityof authentication integrations.
 4. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 2, wherein the authentication request is one of a single-sign onrequest, a multi-factor authentication request, or an identityverification request.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,wherein the request to generate the authentication integration includesclient integration information for the client system, and whereingenerating the authentication integration further comprises: configuringthe authentication integration using the client integration information.6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the identityprovider integration information includes one or more of a name of theidentity provider, a type of network protocol used by the identityprovider, metadata for the type of network protocol used by the identityprovider, metadata indicating how to process the authenticationresponse, or information describing user interface elements for displayon a user device associated with the user.
 7. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein receiving the request to provideauthentication comprises: providing, by the authentication system, theidentity provider interface for display on a client device associatedwith the client system, the identity provider interface configured toreceive requests for authentications integrations with new third-partyidentity providers; and receiving the identity provider integrationinformation for the identity provider as input by a user of the clientdevice to the identity provider interface.
 8. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein generating the identity provider profilecomprises: providing, by the authentication system to an administratorof the authentication system, the request to provide authenticationusing the identity provider; and responsive to an approval of therequest by the administrator, generating the identity provider profileusing the authentication information for the identity provider includedin the request.
 9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, whereinreceiving the request to generate the authentication integration withthe third-party identity provider for the client system comprises:providing, by the authentication system, information describing aplurality of available third-party identity providers; and responsive toa selection of the third-party identity provider from the plurality ofavailable third-party identity providers, receiving the request togenerate the authentication integration.
 10. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 8, wherein the authentication system provides theauthentication integration interface for display by a client device ofthe client system including the information describing the plurality ofavailable third-party identity providers.
 11. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the identity provider communicates with theauthentication system via one of security assertion markup language(SAML), OAuth, or OpenID.
 12. A non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium comprising executable instructions that when executed by acomputer processor cause the processor to perform actions comprising:receiving, by an authentication system through input to an identityprovider profile interface, a request to provide authentication via athird-party identity provider through authentication integrations, therequest to provide authentication including identity providerintegration information for the third-party identity provider;generating, by the authentication system, an identity provider profilefor the third-party identity provider using the identity providerintegration information; receiving, through input to an authenticationintegration interface, a request to generate an authenticationintegration with the third-party identity provider for a client systemof the authentication system; and generating the authenticationintegration using the identity provider profile and client integrationinformation for the client system, the authentication integrationconfigured to enable the authentication system to perform authenticationfor access requests provided by users of the client system using thethird-party identity provider.
 13. The computer-readable storage mediumof claim 12, wherein the executable instructions when executed by theprocesser further cause the processor to perform actions comprising:receiving, by the authentication system, an authentication request for auser of the client system, the user associated with authenticationinformation of the identity provider; providing, by the authenticationsystem, the authentication request to the identity provider using theauthentication integration; and responsive to receiving anauthentication response from the identity provider based on theauthentication request, processing, by the authentication system, theauthentication response using the authentication integration todetermine whether or not the user was successfully authenticated. 14.The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein providing theauthentication request to the identity provider comprises: applying theidentity provider integration information and the client integrationinformation to a set of shared software modules, the set of sharedsoftware modules configured to facilitate a plurality of authenticationintegrations.
 15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13,wherein the authentication request is one of a single-sign on request, amulti-factor authentication request, or an identity verificationrequest.
 16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, whereinthe request to generate the authentication integration includes clientintegration information for the client system, and wherein generatingthe authentication integration further comprises: configuring theauthentication integration using the client integration information. 17.The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the identityprovider integration information includes one or more of a name of theidentity provider, a type of network protocol used by the identityprovider, metadata for the type of network protocol used by the identityprovider, metadata indicating how to process the authenticationresponse, or information describing user interface elements for displayon a user device associated with the user.
 18. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 12, wherein receiving the request to provideauthentication comprises: providing, by the authentication system, theidentity provider interface for display on a client device associatedwith the client system, the identity provider interface configured toreceive requests for authentications integrations with new third-partyidentity providers; and receiving the identity provider integrationinformation for the identity provider as input by a user of the clientdevice to the identity provider interface.
 19. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 12, wherein generating the identity providerprofile comprises: providing, by the authentication system to anadministrator of the authentication system, the request to provideauthentication using the identity provider; and responsive to anapproval of the request by the administrator, generating the identityprovider profile using the authentication information for the identityprovider included in the request.
 20. The computer-readable storagemedium of claim 12, wherein receiving the request to generate theauthentication integration with the third-party identity provider forthe client system comprises: providing, by the authentication system,information describing a plurality of available third-party identityproviders; and responsive to a selection of the third-party identityprovider from the plurality of available third-party identity providers,receiving the request to generate the authentication integration.